‘Fighting for Humanity’: Avoiding climate disaster means acting now

Key points

• Rapid, collective and global action is essential to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C
• Climate action can reverse current trends by reducing methane pollution, protecting land, forests and oceans, and accelerating the phase-out of fossil fuels.
• Every degree Celsius will cause loss of life, destroy livelihoods, deepen inequality and push ecosystems towards irreversible damage

The northern hemisphere’s scorching heat in recent months, raging forest fires and deadly floods are a warning of what the future holds, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said.

He recalled the historic year 2015 Paris Agreement On climate change, world leaders pledged to keep temperature rises at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, which scientists say is critical to avoiding the worst climate damage.

It’s true, the world is failing to keep that promise, according to a new report from the UN Environment Program (UNEP)

“The struggle to achieve 1.5 degrees is a struggle for humanityhe said. “We will exceed the 1.5°C limit in the next few years.”

‘Every fraction of a title will cost lives’

There is no good outcome if temperatures remain above 1.5°C, said UNEP Chair Inger Andersen.

“Around the world, Extreme heat waves have proven that climate impacts will occur faster, be more severe and last longercausing more casualties and causing deeper disruption,” he said.

“Now is the time we must double down on climate action. We can and must get on the right track. By reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening resilience and adaptation and ensuring temperature rises of more than 1.5°C are as small and short as possible.”

The UN Secretary General agreed.

“Every degree Celsius will cause loss of life, destroy livelihoods, deepen inequality and push ecosystems closer to irreversible damage,” said the UN Secretary General. “Humanity is moving beyond borders to avoid climate catastrophe.”

‘Solution is near’

However, rapid action on climate change can bring the world back from the brink of collapse, Guterres said.

“We can still return warming to below 1.5°C by the end of the century,” he said. “We must make the overshoot as small and short as possiblelimiting the high temperature rise and how long the temperature remains above 1.5.”

This requires “beyond ambition” through accelerating the phase-out of fossil fuels and a renewable energy revolution, reducing methane pollution and protecting land, forests and oceans, he said.

This also means governments must over-implement national climate plans, net zero commitments and so on, and developed countries must double adaptation funding and ensure it reaches the groups most at risk.

“The science is clear,” Guterres said. “Solutions are at hand, and the world is ready to implement them. Now is the time to raise ambition and accelerate action.”

Highlights from this new report:

• Above 1.5°C, the risks and impacts will increase every year, including an increase in extreme weather, loss of ecosystems and the submergence of small island nations and low-lying coastal cities, as well as severe damage to human health, food security, water supplies, nature, cities, infrastructure and the economy.
• The probability of crossing an irreversible tipping point increases with the magnitude and duration of higher temperatures, including destabilization of the great ice sheet and degradation of the Amazon rainforest.
• Mitigation and adaptation must occur simultaneously, prioritizing interventions such as nature-based cooling
• Net zero is a milestone towards being net-negative in reducing sustainable greenhouse gas emissions
• Conditions for success include strong political will and multilateralism, effective policies, inclusive governance, and finance
• Countries that have greater responsibility for climate change must act fastest and have the greatest ambition